Wednesday, July 27, 2011

NYC Restaurant Week 2011: Union Square Cafe

While skimming through the list of restaurant week participants, Union Square Cafe was one of the first restaurants to catch my eye. I've walked by it countless times, and have read great reviews. The Danny Meyer restaurant changes the menu often, incorporating seasonal and many locally sourced ingredients.

The food and service did not disappoint.

The bar near the entrance of the restaurant.

For the three-course restaurant week lunch menu at $24.07 (excluding tax and tip), we both started off with the three onion risotto. Absolutely superb. The texture of the risotto was perfect, and the onion flavors managed to not be too pungent or overwhelming. After polishing this off, I was confident it would be my favorite dish of the meal.

Grilled trout with green bean salad, crispy salt-baked potatoes, and seasoning pepper vinaigrette. The trout had the slightly charred taste that I love, and the vinaigrette was a wonderful complement to the fish, as it brought out an additional light citrus flavor that was simple but refreshing.

Peach tarte tartin with creme fraiche ice cream. My friend and I couldn't quite figure out what ice cream it was (we didn't read the menu description all the way). Nevertheless, the tart managed to hold together well while also being flaky.

Raspberry crumb cake with raspberry-lime sherbert. Slightly tart and deliciously moist with plenty of crumbs to enjoy (that's the best part!).

And after writing this post, I'm ready to go back to Union Square Cafe and try something else. Or have all of these dishes again.

Over 200 restaurants extended their restaurant week menu offerings ($24.07 for lunch, $35 for dinner) through September 5th. Although Union Square Cafe is not part of this group, check out the others: www.nycgo.com/restaurantweek